The manufacture of wire brushes, scraper belts, wire pins and the like requires wire types with special properties. The wire must have a high tensile strength and also a high flexibility. Conventional processes utilize unalloyed rolled wire of hardenable carbon steel, which is drawn with the aid of drawing dies to a predetermined diameter. Prior to the drawing process, or between successive drawing steps, occurs a patenting, i.e. a heat treatment for restoration of the drawing quality of the wire for example by heating the wire in a lead, salt or air bath in the range of 400.degree.-550.degree. C., followed by a quick cooling to achieve a perlitic structure or texture. After drawing to the final diameter, the wire is treated (tempered), i.e. austenized, stamped and annealed to provide it with the required strength and straightness.
Economical reasons necessitate that the wire has as small as possible a diameter prior to drawing. The raw wire is produced by roller working. The diameter is here preferentially 6 mm or less.
The service life of brushes or scrapers made of wires produced by conventional methods does insufficiently meet the expectations set for high-efficiency machines. One could think of improving the durability and therewith the service life of a wire by using an alloyed steel. However, this is opposed by disadvantages. The obtaining of a drawable purely pearlitic/sorbitic structure after the rolling by the process after the Stelmor cooling is not possible with the commonly used alloy contents for dimensions &lt;6 mm. With the commonly utilized alloy contents the patenting is also not possible or can no longer be economically conducted, due to the long conversion times. However, this is necessary to create a drawable structure.